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Mozeliak won’t sacrifice future for present
- Updated: December 8, 2016
NATIONAL HARBOR, Md. — The number of potential offseason targets for the Cardinals dwindled on Wednesday, as the Rockies and White Sox highlighted Day 3 of the Winter Meetings by snagging a pair of available outfielders who had, to varying degrees, drawn St. Louis’ interest.
Ian Desmond, who moved to the outfield in 2016, agreed to terms on a five-year contract with Colorado reportedly worth $70 million. Hours later, the White Sox continued their all-in rebuild by shipping Adam Eaton to the Nationals in exchange for three prospects, including Lucas Giolito, ranked by MLB Pipeline as baseball’s third-best prospect.
All this happened one day after the White Sox landed the game’s top prospect, Yoan Moncada, and three others in trading Chris Sale to the Red Sox.
It’s that cost of doing business in the trade market that has stalled some of the Cardinals’ pursuits. They have an elite prospect in right-hander Alex Reyes, ranked seventh overall by MLB Pipeline, but prefer to build around him, not deal him. The Minor League talent pool drops from there, leaving the Cardinals unable to match the sort of offers others are making.
“Perhaps one way to think about it is [that] maybe we just didn’t have that next tier [of prospects below Reyes] that was good enough to compete with some of the names being bantered about. So we have that gap,” general manager John Mozeliak said on Wednesday evening. “I do think Reyes would have been a name that could acquire you a lot, but we just didn’t feel like that made sense for us to …
